Like many city folk, Margaret and David Needham had a yearning to experience living in the country.
When David reached retirement age and Margaret was semi-retired they started looking for a suitable lifestyle block. And that search brought them to Kaipara Flats, just north of Warkworth.
"We came down the road, into the driveway and we fell in love with the property without doing any research," says Margaret.
The Needhams moved here from the North Shore in 2002, and at first Margaret continued commuting back to Auckland for work.
As they adjusted to life on the land, they started to acquire a few animals. "We had two dogs and a couple of cats. We got sheep, goats, geese, chickens and ducks. And we started planting natives.
47 Linton Rd., Kaipara Flats. Photo / Supplied
"We called it Goose Green Farm, a bit of whimsy really as we had geese here.
"As city people, we had no experience of farming and it was a steep learning curve. We learnt to do things like delivering lambs.
"It helped that Kaipara Flats has a strong community. It has been absolutely fantastic.
"Kaipara Flats Hall and the sports club are only 2km from where we live. The sports club has grounds for cricket and rugby and other sports and there's tennis courts.
"They have table tennis and ballroom dancing and concerts in the hall. And on Thursday night people from all around the area roll up for a dinner.
"Every second Friday there is a swap for excess produce in the hall. There's no money exchanged, and there's coffee and home baking.
"There is a dear little library in Kaipara Flats that was built in 1878. You have a key, you take the books and take them back again."
The Needhams would hold a community cricket match in the front garden and an old-fashioned country picnic every two years.
"That included things like gumboot throwing and egg and spoon races. It was a great local event."
47 Linton Rd., Kaipara Flats. Photo / Supplied
As they settled into the community and the lifestyle, they appreciated the architectural design of the board-and-batten home with long-run roofing that had been built in the '80s.
"It is a long, low house to follow the lie of the land," Margaret says. "It captures the sun all day because it's north facing.
"It is a warm house, a country home with a timeless quality. It has soul, and it belongs to the land somehow."
The property has an implement shed with double garage and pool house.
"I used that pool room as a consulting room when I was working professionally. It could also be a guest area, as it has a separate entrance," says Margaret.
In the main house there is a bedroom, sun room, another bedroom with a bathroom, the formal entrance, laundry, the farmstyle kitchen with matai cupboards and F&P appliances, and main lounge.
Up the stairs are the master bedroom with en suite and an office.
47 Linton Rd., Kaipara Flats. Photo / Supplied
Every bedroom and living room looks out at paddocks. Most rooms open to the outside.
"You definitely have an indoor/ outdoor flow in this home."
Features are the sarked timber ceilings and plentiful windows to bring in the natural light. Two wood burners easily heat the home, helped by a concrete slab behind one wood burner to store heat through the night.
Across the paddocks is a cottage that Margaret, a painter, uses as her studio. "It has two big rooms and a chemical toilet. It could be used as a second dwelling, but it has no power."
The house is set off by native bush and a garden including a vegetable patch and fruit trees.
A 70,000-litre water tank means they never run out of water — "important on a lifestyle block".
If they need provisions, Warkworth is just nine minutes away and Margaret can be on the motorway to Auckland in six minutes, with the off-peak trip to the North Shore taking 45 to 50 minutes.
